Vatican 2008 2€ Pauline Year

He, who is called “the Apostle to the Gentiles”, never actually met Jesus during his life in Jerusalem or along the roads of Galilee, like the twelve Apostles. He is the first apostle to have only the experience of the Risen Christ, as all Christians will continue to have through the centuries. Saul, his name before his conversion, received a rigorous teaching in the Law from Rabbi Gamaliel the Elder. Paul, who was both a Jew and a Roman citizen, was born in Tarsus, currently Eastern Turkey. After his conversion, he was given a specific mission to go and preach the Word of God to all people: first to Antioch and Asia Minor, later to Greece and Rome. Paul is the most well-known figure of the first Christian generation, both for his Letters (seven were recognized to be authentic in the strict sense of the term) and for the story of his life described by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles. On the coin is depicted the conversion of Saint Paul.